Wednesday, September 10, 2008

IronBear

"Pooh might seem a bit soft around the mid section being that he is stuffed with fluff. His calorie consumption of honey alone should render most clinically obese. However, when it comes to triathlon... well there are somethings that bears of very little brain do naturally." - A.A. Milne

Overall time- 10:13Swim-55:30Bike-5:31Run-3:38

Reaction- The swim was awesome with massive amounts of dunking occurring. I hate to say it, but if you have been dunked in a triathlon, I was probably the culprit. It isn't my fault, though. I am big boned and have rather large paws that get in the way. I came out of the water in a time about 1-2 minutes faster than I would have hoped.The bike was tough but, as most things in triathlon are, over hyped. Fear mongering has a way of taking over after people do a race. It seems like a triathlete's duty to scare the crap out of as many others as possible about the difficulties of the course. Despite what you may have heard about the IM wisc bike being hellish, it isn't. It is rolling. Go sign up.The run was sweet. I didn't have my garmin though so I went slightly slower than I would have liked. The crowds were unreal and the coke was flat and disgusting but useful.

Missed Kona by two spots and finished 5th in my age group. %$@#^$^%$^%$

All in all, awesome race. My family was there the whole way and my sister even ran about six miles of the run behind me to keep me company. The MSU tri team had 4 IM rookies and each smashed 12 hours so that was also sick. Stay tuned to the EVO tri website for the next issue of the collegiate.

I think you might find that course a whole other beast on a hotter, windier day!

18-24 is tricky because they only get 2-3 slots. 25-29 on the other hand is the most competitive age group, but has more slots. If Kona is your goal, you'll get it and probably sooner rather than later!

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People Say Awesome Stuff... I just parrot it.

Moderation is the key to mediocrity

The thing itself is the absence of compromise. There are no... deals available.

The daily toll is satisfying but arduous on the whole, not some bounding, joyous nature romp described in the magazines. Zen runners, joggers, running poets, and the like may say different but their euphoric selves are generally nowhere to be seen on the dark sleeting mornings.